Ginger
by WelshClaire
Summary: Post Contact oneshot, Harry and Nikki have babies, who want something. Fluff for Poppy's birthday. "Yea," the man said kindly, "she's called Lizzi, but you can change it if you don't like it."


**Yay! FF is finally playing nicely and letting me upload fic! So, this is Poppy's birthday fic, for which my very helpful prompt was fluff. I can do fluff! So, I hope you had a great day, and are having a lovely weekend. Love you lots, enjoy xx**

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"Please, Daddy? Can we? Can we get one, please?"

Harry Cunningham looked up from his laptop where he was working (yes, really!) on a post mortem report to see his 4 year old daughter Amber, the spitting image of his wife at that age, in front of him with a drawing held out to him.

"One what, baby? What have you drawn?" He asked, pushing his chair away from the desk and lifting her onto his lap.

"Cat! Me and Greg want a kitty, Daddy!" She said excitedly, pressing the drawing against his face.

"Careful Ambs, let me have a look please?" He said, prising the paper from her hands and lowering the glasses perched on top of his head to study her artwork.

"See Daddy," she said, bouncing on his lap and pointing, "that's you with Dylan, and me, and Gregs...and there's Mummy and the babies in her tummy, and there's our kitty!"

"That's very good, baby," he said kissing the top of her head. "What does Mummy think about getting a cat?"

"She said ask you," Amber grinned up at him.

"Did she now?" Harry pondered. "Why don't you draw another picture, just of the cat, while I finish my work, then we can go home and see what she says, ok?"

"Can get me colours, Daddy?"

"Okay," he said, picking her up as he stood and walked round to Nikki's desk, getting the crayons out of one of the drawers. "Are you going to sit here, or back in Uncle Leo's office?"

"Here!" She said happily.

"Okay," he said, putting her on the chair. "Here are the crayons, and some more paper, and soon we'll go home for dinner."

Thankfully, for the next hour Amber sat in a happy silence drawing pictures, some of the cat she wanted, and some of all her family. Finally Harry finished his report and printed it, taking it through to Leo.

"All done?" The older man asked, looking up at him.

"At last," Harry said, handing him the file. "I'm going to head off now, get Amber home."

"Okay, that's fine. See you next week."

"Yea, have a good weekend," Harry said cheekily, knowing his boss was on call the whole time. He left the office hurriedly, seeing a pen flying his way.

Later that night when their kids were in bed, Harry decided to ask Nikki about getting a cat. It was something they'd discussed before, both liking cats, but had never found the right time to actually get one.

"Amber drew some pictures of us all at the Lyell earlier," he said to his wife as she wrapped get arms round him in the kitchen.

"Oh yeah?"

"Mmm, all of us...and a cat," he said.

"A cat?!" Nikki repeated, looking up at him.

"A cat. Apparently," he said, moving away from her and hunting through his bag, pulling out the drawings, "her and Gregs want a cat, preferably like this one."

"Bright orange and fat? Surely that's not very healthy?" Nikki said, chuckling softly at the drawing.

"There's nothing unhealthy about being ginger."

"If you say so," Nikki quipped, "I was more concerned about the weight of it though."

"You're not alone there. I'm not sure the real thing would have to be exactly like that though."

"I'd hope not. It would be nice to have one though."

"Are you saying we can get one?" Harry asked hopefully.

"Maybe... Is it a good idea before these two arrive?" Nikki pondered, her hand resting on her stomach.

"I don't see why not, we've still got a few months to go so the cat would be settled by then," Harry said, covering her hand with his.

"True. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to go and look at some, are the kids sure they want one?"

"Amber was telling me all about how she'd look after it on the way home, so yes, I think so," Harry said, chuckling at the thought of the conversation.

"Okay, how about we go tomorrow, we'll surprise them," Nikki said, warming to the idea a lot.

"Sounds like a plan," Harry said, kissing her softly.

The next morning, they picked Amber up from her ballet class, and with Harry taking an 'accidental' wrong turn on the way home, the family ended up at the local cats home.

"Can we take him home, Daddy?" Amber asked as they looked at the cats inside.

"Which one?" Harry asked, ruffling her hair softly.

"That one," she said, pointing before changing her mind, "no, that one...all of them!

"We're getting one at the most, Ambs, and even if we see one we all like, we won't be taking him home today," Nikki explained as she fell in love with a ginger cat very similar, but a lot slimmer, to her daughter's drawing.

"Why not, Mummy?" Amber asked sadly.

"They have to send someone to our house to make sure that it's suitable for a cat, and that we'll be good owners."

"I'll look after the cat, Mummy, I promise," Amber said.

"I know you will, baby, but they've got to be sure of it before they let us have one."

"Niks? What about this one?" Harry asked, pointing at the same cat Nikki decided she needed in her life.

"He's okay," she said, playing down her interest.

"It's the one I drew, Daddy!" Amber said excitedly. "Look, Dylan, do you like that cat?"

Dylan just nodded at his older sister, grinning to himself.

"Gregs, what do you think?" Harry asked.

"I like him, I think we should have him," Greg said, smiling at his Dad.

"Okay," Harry said, communicating silently with his wife, "I'll go and find someone, you all stay here."

20 minutes later, Harry returned with a young man, paperwork in hand.

"Provided everything's okay with the home visit, he's ours," Harry announced.

"Erm, that one's a girl actually," the man said. "She's been neutered though, so there's no chance of any pregnancies."

"Girl cat!" Amber said happily.

"Yea," the man said kindly, "she's called Lizzi, but you can change it if you don't like it."

"Want Lizzi, Daddy!" Dylan said, tugging on Harry's arm.

"Okay, we're probably going to get her, so don't worry," Harry said, picking up his son.

There were cheers from the three children as Nikki arranged a time for the home visit.

4 days later on his way home from work, Harry made another trip to the cattery, this time to pick up Lizzi with the home visit having gone smoothly.

"Daddy," Dylan announced that evening after dinner "Lizzi wants to sleep in my bed."

"Can she sleep in mine, Daddy?" Amber said quickly.

"No, she's not going in yours either Dylan, she's staying downstairs where she's got her own bed," Harry said firmly. "Greg, have you done your homework?"

"No, it won't take me long though," Greg said as he played with Lizzi.

"Well go and do it, then you can come back to Lizzi. You know the rule about homework." Harry said.

Later that night, Harry, Nikki and Lizzi were on the sofa watching the news.

"Can we move her bed up to our room?" Nikki asked, grinning at her husband.

"No, it's better that she's down here, and I don't want to be sleeping in a bed full of cat hair." Harry said, stroking the cat.

"That would only happen if I kicked you out of our bed, and with your past performance record, that won't be happening," Nikki said, kissing her husband.

"Why thank you, kind lady," he teased, "but you know that's not what I meant, and also, having her in our room would make any future performances a bit awkward."

"True, maybe she should go to bed right now, so there's not chance of any awkwardness tonight," Nikki hinted.

"Brilliant idea,'' Harry said, taking his wife's hand and leading her upstairs, making sure Lizzi was safely shut in the kitchen overnight.

**Hope it was okay, reviews are always loved **


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